605 West 161st Street

How does 605 West 161st Street compare with other multifamily housing buildings in New York City?

The latest disclosures cover 33,022 multifamily housing buildings in New York City, out of 48,310 buildings citywide. 605 West 161st Street's ENERGY STAR score of 70 compares with an average of 63 across the 22,829 that report a score; it scores higher than 51% of them and lower than 48%. Its site EUI of 60.6 kBtu/ft² is about 19% below the average of 74.9 kBtu/ft² — it uses less energy per square foot than the typical building in that group. Its emissions intensity of 4.7 kgCO₂e/ft² is roughly in line with the group average of 5.2 kgCO₂e/ft².

At 53,832 sq ft, it is about half of the average floor area of 100,951 sq ft for those buildings. It was built in 2015, 63 years later than the group's average year built (1952). Across all 24 jurisdictions BuildingCensus covers, the 59,945 multifamily housing buildings average an ENERGY STAR score of 70 and a site EUI of 59.0 kBtu/ft².

How has 605 West 161st Street's energy performance changed over time?

BuildingCensus holds 3 New York City disclosures for 605 West 161st Street, covering report years 2022–2024. Its ENERGY STAR score went from 72 in 2022 to 70 in 2024 (-2 points); its best year on file was 2022, at 72. Site EUI moved from 63.5 kBtu/ft² (2022) to 60.6 kBtu/ft² (2024), a 5% decrease. Reported emissions went from 223 tCO₂e to 253 tCO₂e over the same span (up 13%).

What does an ENERGY STAR score of 70 mean?

ENERGY STAR scores run from 1 to 100 and are computed by the EPA's Portfolio Manager as a percentile against similar buildings nationwide, adjusted for climate, size and use: a score of 70 means the building performs better than about 70% of its national peers. BuildingCensus bands the score into report-card grades; 70 falls in band B — above median (70–84). It sits 5 points below 75, the threshold for ENERGY STAR certification. In New York City, 43% of scored buildings are at 75 or above.

Site energy-use intensity (EUI) is the energy a building uses on site in a year divided by its floor area, in thousand Btu per square foot — lower is more efficient. 605 West 161st Street's 60.6 kBtu/ft² across 53,832 sq ft works out to about 3.3 billion Btu (956 MWh-equivalent) in 2024. Its source EUI of 105.2 kBtu/ft² also counts the energy lost generating and delivering that power, which is why it is higher. The disclosure also reports 374,682 kWh of electricity, 19,839 therms of natural gas and 1,840 thousand gallons of water for the year.

Which law requires 605 West 161st Street to report its energy use?

605 West 161st Street reports under Local Law 84 (LL84), the legal basis of New York City's Energy and Water Data Disclosure program, which publishes each covered building's annual benchmarking results. The record shown here is the report-year 2024 disclosure (source record nyc:6272079:2024). Under Local Law 97, buildings over 25,000 sq ft face carbon caps with fines of $268 per metric ton of CO₂e over the limit, phasing in from 2024.